Balancing means for spinning machines



Dec. 22, 1936. E. KINSELLA ET AL BALANCING MEANS FOR SPINNING MACHINES Filed Aug. 20, 1935 EDWARD K\N5ELL5 CHARLES \N- Aflbknavs Patented Dec. 22, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BALANCING MEANS FOR. SPINNING MACHINES aware Application August 20, 1935, Serial No. 36,952

In Great Britain September 17, 1934 9 Claims.

This invention relates to means-for balancing spinning machines for the twisting or doubling of yarns such as ring spinning, fiyer spinning and cap spinning machines.

In machines of this type the traversing of the yarn being spun upon the bobbins or other yarn packages on which it is to be collected is effected by means of a vertically reciprocated lifter rail on which are mounted either the packages on which the yarn is being wound or guide means for conducting the yarn to such packages. The vertical movements of the lifter rail are derived from the movements of a horizontaly reciprocated traverse rod extending the length of the lifter rail. Movement is transmitted from the traverse rod to the lifter rail by means of lifter rods depending verticaly from the lifter rail, and chains connected to the bottom ends of the lifter rods, running over sprockets, and connected to the traverse rod. The weight of the lifter rail and of the parts carried thereby acts through the lifter rods and chains and tends to pull the traverse rod always in one direction with considerable force. This force may be balanced wholly or in part by further chains connected to the traverse rod and passing over sprockets, suitable weights being connected to the free ends of such chains so that the weights tend to pull the traverse rod in the opposite direction to the weight of the lifter rod and associated parts. The provision of balance weights in this manner, however, adds greatly to the com- 7 plexity of the machine and greatly increases the total inertia of the moving parts which has to be overcome by a cam or other means actuating the traverse rod at the end of each traverse.

Balancing may also be effected by dividing the lifter rail in two parts, and so arranging the lifting chains and their connections with the traverse rod that one part of thelifter rail is rising while the other is falling. In this case, however, if the use of balance weights and chains is to be avoided, the cam or cams operating the traverse rod must work positively in both directions, and it is difficult not only to synchronize the operation of the two cam surfaces necessary, but also to avoid interference between the cam bowls and the cam surfaces on which they operate. It is an object of the present invention to provide means for balancing the weight of the lifter rail and associated parts which shall be free from the above mentioned disadvantages,

According to the present invention the traverse rod is provided with a piston fitting into a cylinder, and constant or substantially constant force is applied to such piston by fluid pressure in Order to overcome the weight of the lifter rail and associated parts. By this means the moving parts of the machine are wholly or partially balanced without any substantial increase in the total inertia of the moving parts. Moreover, the provision of a piston and a cylinder into which it fits does not greatly increase the complexity of the machine while enabling the heavy and cumbrous mechanism of balance weights, chains and sprockets to be dispensed with.

It is convenient, when the method of balancing according to the present invention is employed, to divide the lifter rail into two parts, one of which rises while the other falls, or, in the case of a large machine, into four or more parts, alternately rising and falling. Instead of employing this arrangement for balancing in the usual manner, however, the two or more parts are separately operated by separate traverse rods, and are separately balanced by means of pistons and cylindersl The magnitude of the pressure applied at the end of the traverse rod may be in excess of that necessary to balance the lifter rail and associated parts, in which case the cam or like means operating the traverse rod will act in the same direc tion as the weight of the moving parts and against the constant pressure applied at the end of the traverse rod.

,While the invention is generally applicable to twisting or doubling machines having a vertical traverse movement, it is of especial value in connection with cap spinning machines in which the traverse rail carries the yarn packages, the tubular spindles on which they are mounted, and the driving wharls for such tubular spindles.

By way of example, one form of cap spinning machine according to the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a machine provided with balancing means according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation; Fig. 3 a plan view of the balancing means; and Fig. 4 is a modification of Fig. 3.

The machine is a cap-spinning'machine and machine. The caps 5 of the machine are carried at the upper ends of the spindles which pass through the holes in two separate lifter rails 6 disposed end to end between the spindle rail I and the caps 5. tionary spindles 2 is a driving wharl 8 which is engaged by a driving band 9 for the rotation of the bobbin I0 carried above the wharl.

In connection with each lifter rail, lifter rods I I are provided, connected at their upper ends to the lower side of the lifter rail 6 and passing through holes I2 in the spindle rail I. Each lifter rod II is operated by a double traverse rod I3 of the kind described in U. S. application S. i

No. 36,956 filed August 20, 1935, corresponding to British application No. 26637/34 filed 17th September 1934, and lifting chains I4 are connected to the lower ends I5 of the lifter rods and to yokes 33 which form a connection between the two parts of the double traverse rod I3. Between the yokes 33 and the lower ends I5 of the lifter rods, the chains I4 pass over sprockets I! mounted between the two traverse rods I3, the arrangement of double traverse rods I3, the form of the lifter rods II and the connection of the lifting chain I4 thereto being as described in U. S. application S. No. 36,956 corresponding to British application No. 26637/34. The traverse rods I3 are mounted upon rocking quadrants I8 supported on rubber pivots I9 as described in U. S. application S. No. 36,954 filed August 20, 1935, corresponding to British application No. 26638/34 filed 17th September 1934, being connected to such rocking quadrants by'means of three steel tapes 20 so that the movements of the traverse rods I3 are transmitted to the quadrants I8.

Driving of each of the double traverse rods is efiected by means of a cam and lever arrangement shownrat the right hand side of Fig. 1 having a Vernier adjustment for the length of traverse as is described in U. S. application S. No. 36,955 filed August 20, 1935, corresponding to British application No. 26639/34 filed 17th September 1934. The lever 2| is attached to a horizontally sliding crosshead 22, guided in slides 24, the traverse rods I3 being secured to the crosshead 22. The lower end of the lever slides against a shoe 25 pivoted at 26 to a bell crank lever 2'I, whose position is adjustable and is indicated by means of a fixed scale 28 and a pointer lever 29 connected to the lever 21.

Two such cam and lever driving arrangements are provided, disposed one at each outer end of the two double traverse rods, while at the inner or adjacent ends each double traverse rod I3 is connected to two pistons 39 sliding in two fixed cylinders 3|. The connection is effected by means of four short rods 32 attached to one of' the yokes 33 connecting the two parts of the double traverse rod I3, the rods 32 passing round the fixed cylinders 3| and being attached to the yoke I6 which in turn is connected to a pair of piston rods 35.

The four cylinders 3| (two in connection with each double traverse rod I3) are secured to the machine by means of strong brackets 36 attached to the spindle rail I, and are rigidly fixed relatively to'one another'by means of the spindle rail and tie rods I36. All the cylinders are connected by means of T pieces 31 and pipes 38 with a large reservoir 39 of compressed air which acts upon the pistons 30. The four connecting rods 32 pass around the cylinders 3 I, so that the action or the compressed air on the pistons 30 is to draw Surrounding each of the stanected, is thus maintained constant.

the traverse rods I3 away from the driving end where the cam and lever driving arrangement is disposed.

The lifter rods II and chains I4 and the connection of the chains I4 to the double traverse rod I3 are such that the weight of the lifter rail 6 and of the parts 8-Ill carried thereby acts against the pressure upon the pistons 30. The pressure upon the pistons 39, however, is more than enough to support the lifter rail 6, and the cam and lever driving arrangement at the other end of the double traverse rod I3 acts against the pressure of the pistons 30 to produce the requisite traversing motion of the lifter rail 6. The driving arrangements of the two double traverse rods I3 are synchronized as nearly as possible so that the two double traverse rods I3 on opposite ends of the machine move together. rails 6, however, move oppositely, the onerising while the other falls, so that as air is forced into one pair of cylinders 3|, it is forced out of the other pair. The presssure in the large air receiver 39, to which all the cylinders 3I are con- Any leakage of air from the system is made up by supplying compressed air, from a compressed air. service or otherwise, to the receiver through a pipe 40.

In Fig. 4 an arrangement of the cylinders 3| and piston 30 is shown in which the pressure exerted by the compressed air in the cylinders is not constant throughout the stroke. piston 30 is an auxiliary ram 4| which, at the end of the stroke of the piston, enters a bore 42 in the end of the cylinder, and wholly or partly cuts off the exit of air. In this way, some air is trapped in the cylinder, and the inertia of the lifter rail 8 and the parts 8-40 thereon is cushioned as they reach the bottom of their vertical movement.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a spinning machine comprising vertically reciprocating parts, means for balancing said parts, comprising a piston member, a cylinder member into which said piston member is adapted to fit, one of said members being a fixed member, means for securing the other of said members to said vertically reciprocating parts so that said member reciprocates with said parts, a source of supply of fluid under pressure, and means for connecting said source of supply to said cylinder so that the pressure opposes the descent of said vertically reciprocating parts and. assists the ascent thereof. 7 Y

2. In a spinning machine comprising vertically reciprocating parts, means for balancing said parts, comprising a piston member, a cylinder member into which said piston member is adapted to fit, one of said members being a fixed member, means for securing the other of said members to said vertically reciprocating parts so that said member reciprocates with said parts, a source of supply of fluid under pressure, and means for forcing said vertically reciprocating parts downwards against the action of the pressure. I

3. In a spinning machine comprising vertically reciprocating parts, means for balancing said parts, comprising a piston member, a cylinder member into which said piston member is adapted to fit, one of said members being a fixed mem ber, means for securing the other of said members to said vertically reciprocating parts so that said member reciprocates with said parts. a source of supply of fluid under pressure, and means for On each forcing said vertically reciprocating parts upwards with the assistance of the pressure.

4. A spinning machine comprising vertically reciprocating parts, a plurality of lifter rails for carrying said parts, at least one piston member and cylinder member in connection with each of said rails, means for connecting said rail to one of said members so that said member reciprocates with said rail, the other being a fixed member, a source of supply of fluid under pressure, means for connecting each of said cylinder members to said source of supply so that the pressure opposes the descent of the vertically reciprocating parts in connection with said cylinder, and means for reciprocating said parts, one half of the lifter rails descending while the other half is ascending.

5. A spinning machine comprising vertically reciprocating parts, two lifter rails adapted to carry said vertically reciprocating parts and to reciprocate therewith, a pair of piston members and a pair of cylinder members in connection with each of said lifter rails, means for connecting each lifter rail to the corresponding pair of pistons, a source of supply of fluid under pressure, means for connecting said source of supply to said cylinders so that the pressure opposes the descent of said reciprocating parts, and means for reciprocating said parts so that one of said lifter rails rises while the other falls.

6. A spinning machine comprising vertically reciprocating parts, two lifter rails adapted to carry said vertically reciprocating parts and to reciprocate therewith, a pair of piston members and a pair of cylinder members in connection with each of said lifter rails, means for connecting each lifter rail to the corresponding pair of pistons, a source of supply of fluid under pressure, means for connecting said source of supply to said cylinders so that the pressure opposes the descent of said reciprocating parts, and means for forcing down said lifter rails alternately against the action of the pressure.

7. A spinning machine comprising vertically reciprocating parts, two lifter rails adapted to carry said vertically reciprocating parts and to reciprocate therewith, a pair of piston members and a pair of cylinder members in connection with each of said lifter rails, means for connecting each lifter rail to the corresponding pair of pistons, a source of supply of fluid under pressure, means for connecting said source of supply to said cylinders so that the pressure opposes the descent of said reciprocating parts, and means for forcing upwards said lifted rails alternately with the assistance of the pressure.

8. In a spinning machine comprising vertically reciprocating parts, means for balancing said parts, comprising a piston member, a cylinder member into which said piston member is adapted to fit, one of said members being a fixed member, means for securing the other of said members to said vertically reciprocating parts so that said member reciprocates with said parts, a source of supply of fluid under pressure, means for connecting said source of supply to said cylinder so that the pressure opposes the descent of said vertically reciprocating parts and assists the ascent thereof, and means on said piston for closing the outlet of said cylinder near the end of the stroke of said piston, so as to trap air in said piston and absorb the inertia of the reciprocating parts at the bottom of their movement.

9. A cap spinning machine comprising a spindle rail, spindles mounted on said spindle rail, caps carried at the upper ends of said spindles, a lifter rail, wharls surrounding said spindles and mounted on said lifter rail, a piston member, a cylinder member into which said piston is adapted to fit, one of said members being a fixed member, means for securing the other of said members to said lifter rail so that said member reciprocates with said rail, a source of supply of fluid under pressure, and means for connecting said source of supply to said cylinder so that the pressure opposes the descent of said lifter rail and assists the ascent thereof.

EDWARD KINSELLA. CHARLES WESLEY ADDY. 

